Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 76: Sinking the Flagship
Captain Antonio thought to himself that the "bang" he had just heard from below the deck was most likely caused by an armor-piercing shell hitting the hull, the steam generator was most likely damaged by the armor-piercing shell, and the explosion at the stern was most likely caused by a shell hitting the accumulated shells.
All these things indicate that a warship is attacking the Casillas. I must let the Casillas evade as soon as possible. This mysterious warship cannot only attack the Casillas. It will definitely attack other warships in the fleet. I must immediately notify Commander Sandras and let him order the fleet to prepare early.
Captain Antonio rushed into the command room and shouted, "Commander, we are under attack. Please order the fleet to speed up immediately to avoid the enemy's attack."
Commander Sandras was stunned and asked, "We were attacked? Why do you say that?"
Captain Antonio said hurriedly: "There is no time to explain so much. I swear to God that I will never make any mistakes!"
Commander Sandras nodded doubtfully, picked up the megaphone connected to the observation room, and said loudly: "Send a signal to the fleet immediately. The flagship Casillas is under attack. The shells are coming from the starboard side of our ship. All ships immediately search the starboard side of our fleet."
The signalman shouted: "The four signal lights were blown to pieces and cannot be used..."
Commander Sandras felt a black screen before his eyes and he almost fainted. The Casillas relied on signal lights to communicate with other warships in the dark. If the signal lights were blown to pieces, it would be impossible to contact the other four gunboats in the dark. In other words, the other four gunboats had no idea that the Casillas was attacked.
Although the fire from the mysterious enemy's firing might be seen by the four gunboats, the mysterious enemy was firing on the other side of the Moros, and everyone on the gunboats was focusing their attention in the direction of the Moros, and no one would pay attention to the other side at all!
Commander Sandras was racking his brains for a countermeasure when the ship suddenly shook again and another armor-piercing shell hit the ship, this time hitting the living cabin in the middle and rear part of the ship. Everyone in the cabin went to their respective combat positions, so there were no casualties. However, the large hole left on the hull allowed seawater to pour into the ship, and coupled with the previous hole in the steam engine room, the ship immediately began to heave.
At this moment, an officer, soaked like a drowned rat, rushed into the command room and shouted to Captain Antonio: "Captain, there are many leaks on the ship and they cannot be stopped."
Commander Sandras turned around and saw that the officer was the damage control officer. He immediately shouted, "Why can't we stop it?"
The damage control chief said helplessly: "Report to the commander, the Casillas has been in service for twelve years. Many of the rubber seals on the hull have failed. We closed two watertight compartments, but it was useless. Water still seeped out of the watertight compartments. There are still many damaged places on the hull that were only barely blocked with welded metal plates. The explosion just now has damaged many of these metal plates, and the water is leaking more."
While they were talking, the Casillas appeared about five degrees of stern. Commander Sandras quickly grabbed the megaphone and shouted: "The bow auxiliary engine room, start the water pump immediately and fill the bow watertight compartment with water."
The damage control officer shouted hurriedly: "Don't add water! The rubber of the bow watertight compartment has aged more seriously, and it will sink faster if it is filled with water!"
Commander Sandras was so angry that he threw the megaphone heavily on the command platform and said angrily: "Then what do you say we should do?"
The damage control officer said helplessly: "Abandon ship, we have no choice but to abandon ship!"
Captain Antonio and Commander Sandras frowned and said angrily, "Abandon the ship? How can you abandon the ship?"
At this moment, several people suddenly heard a "click, click, click" sound coming from the stern of the ship, accompanied by the violent vibration of the entire ship. The damage control chief's face changed drastically and he said, "It's over, the propeller hit the reef!"
It turned out that the water in this area was very shallow. The Casillas suffered a serious stern heel due to a large amount of water taking in at the stern. The stern propeller hit a protruding rock on the seabed. The high-speed rotating steel propeller hit the rock, making a "clicking" sound, but the rock could not stop the Casillas from sinking. The propeller broke the rock, and the Casillas continued to sink into the sea.
Commander Sandras knew that sinking was inevitable, so he gritted his teeth and said to Captain Antonio with great pain: "Give the order to abandon the ship!"
Commander Sandras was the fleet commander, not the captain of the Casillas, so he had no authority to order the abandon ship. The order to abandon ship could only be given by Captain Antonio. Captain Antonio also knew that the situation was hopeless, so he gave the order to abandon ship.
Everyone on the Casillas jumped into the water, climbed onto the small boat, and fled to the four gunboats behind. The seriously damaged Casillas then sank into the sea.
The four gunboats at the back were not very surprised when they heard the explosion of the Casillas. After all, artillery accidents were not uncommon, and it was bad luck for the Casillas to have encountered one. As for the fact that the Casillas was later hit by the armor-piercing shells of the Nuwa ship, the four gunboats at the back were completely unaware of it, because all of them were concentrating on firing at the Muslim warships. Who would notice the flash of light thousands of meters away?
Until the Casillas sank, the four gunboats behind it had no idea that they were under attack, because the Spanish fleet had dominated this sea area for a long time, and no ship that could be considered a warship had ever appeared in front of them. It was not until the four gunboats rescued the people on the Casillas and heard what Captain Antonio and Commander Sandras said that they finally realized that the Casillas had been bombarded.
Commander Sandras asked the gunboat Trajan to temporarily serve as the flagship and ordered four gunboats to search in the direction of the Nuwa ship, but it was too late because the Nuwa ship had already pointed its guns at them.
At this moment, the Santos ship, which was closest to the Casillas ship, suddenly sent a signal: "The port side of our ship was hit, and the kitchen cabin, food storage cabin and fresh water storage cabin were destroyed."
Upon hearing the news, Captain Antonio hurriedly said to Commander Sandras: "Commander, please send a message to the other two gunboats immediately and ask them to pay attention to the flash on the port side of the Santos."
Commander Sandras nodded and told someone to pass on the order. He then ordered, "Immediately have all ships speed up and approach the mysterious enemy ship."
Captain Antonio said hurriedly: "Commander, if we speed up and get away from the Moro warships, what if they take the opportunity to attack our troop transports?"
Commander Sandras asked, "Can we still signal the troop transport now?"
Captain Antonio said: "Light signals are definitely impossible. We can send flares to let the troop transports leave the coast and sail into the sea. The Moro warships will not be able to hit them in the sea."
Commander Sandras nodded and said, "Then let's quickly fire the flares and have the troop transport leave the coast quickly!"
Captain Antonio called an officer and asked him to fire flares. Soon, three bright red flares shot straight into the sky. When Commander Sandras saw the flares being fired, he ordered all ships to speed up and head towards the direction of the Nuwa ship. As the Spanish fleet accelerated, the Muslim warships behind could not catch up no matter what. They could only abandon the Spanish fleet and head towards the sea where the troop transport ship was.
During this time, Lin Fei set the distance change rate in the lookout tower on the mast and directed his men to conduct artillery fire. At this time, the distance had been shortened to 1,500 meters. The artillery shells of the Nuwa ship were more accurate. The Santos ship was constantly hit and kept sending out messages that our ship had been hit.
Commander Sandras was extremely anxious when he heard the news that the Santos was hit. He picked up the megaphone and asked loudly, "Observation room, did you notice the flash when the mysterious warship fired?"
The observation room did not disappoint Commander Sandras. The observer shouted loudly: "A few flashes were found in front of the left side of my ship!"
Captain Antonio hurriedly said: "Searchlight control room, adjust the direction of the searchlight and indicate the mysterious enemy ship target!"
The searchlight control room hurriedly adjusted the direction of the searchlight, searching for the Nuwa ship on the sea. During this time, the Nuwa ship carried out four rounds of artillery fire, fired sixteen armor-piercing shells, five of which hit the Santos gunboat.
The Santos gunboat was just a small warship with a displacement of less than 500 tons. It was okay for bullying Muslim wooden warships, but it would be doomed if it encountered the capped armor-piercing shells designed by Lin Fei. Moreover, the Santos gunboat was poorly maintained, and there were many places on the side near the waterline that were rusted, making it even less able to withstand armor-piercing shells.
After being hit by five bullets, the gunboat Santos could only send out the signal "I have abandoned ship" and began to abandon ship. In the next five minutes, the gunboat Santos sank into the sea in front of everyone.
The searchlight controller of the Trajan ship finally lived up to everyone's expectations and found the Nuwa ship in the inky black sea. Soon a bright beam of light hit the Nuwa ship. Commander Sandras and Captain Antonio were both excited, thinking that they had finally found the damn warship.
Commander Sandras raised the telescope in his hand, carefully looked at the Nuwa ship for a while, frowned and said: "This warship is very similar to the Cuba warship. Could it be the hijacked Cuba?"
Captain Antonio also raised his telescope and looked for a while before saying, "The gun position is exactly the same as that of the Cuba. It should be the Cuba. It seems that the people on this mysterious warship are the ones who looted the plantation and stole our warship!"
Commander Sandras nodded and said, "Then we must sink it! Signal room, pass on my order, sink the opposing battleship at all costs!"
